Baby steps: Power plant demolition sees progress
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1 of 6By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian
Thomas Allen, director of New Generation Construction for PG&E, says explosives will be used to bring down the two boilers at the old power plant on Coffee Road near Rosedale Highway. Demolition of the old power plant continues.
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2 of 6By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian
PG&E personnel and local media tour the old power plant on Coffee Road near Rosedale Highway to see the progress of the demolition of the plant. Explosive devices are planned to be used around mid-January to bring down the two boilers of the power plant that was built in the 1940s.
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3 of 6By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian
Post World War II engineering is evident in the power plant that was constructed on Coffee Road in the mid 1940s. The PG&E plant is being demolished.
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4 of 6By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian
Areas of reinforced concrete outer walls of the power plant on Coffee Road are knocked out as the PG&E plant is demolished.
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5 of 6By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian
Two steam turbine driven generators each capable of generating 120 megawatts of electricity sit in the old power plant on Coffee Road that is being demolished. The power plant was built in the 1940s.
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6 of 6By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian
PG&E's William Hicks says huge cranes were used to service the equipment inside the power plant when it was operational. PG&E is in the process of demolishing the plant.
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BY ANNA BURLESON Californian staff writer aburleson@bakersfield.com
Kern Power Plant has been the source of a lot of headache in Bakersfield, but the giant mountain of cement and machinery is slowly but surely reaching its demise.
Since contractors started work in March, most of the asbestos in the buildings has been removed and some outlying concrete structures have been broken into piles of rubble. Fuel tanks and equipment have also been disassembled and removed.
"Everything on site is being recycled except for the asbestos material," Tom Allen, director of new generation construction and one of the people overseeing the demolition, said during a Tuesday tour.
After years of hemming and hawing, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. hired Covina-based Cleveland Wrecking Co. last December to take down the power plant, which was shut down in 1985.
While it may be hard to tell just looking at the outside of the buildings, about 600 tons of steel has been hauled from the site, Tom Allen said. He also pointed to large sections of piping in the main building that he said used to be covered with insulation that contained asbestos.
The next step will be getting rid of the remaining asbestos and then disassembling the roof of the main concrete building before working from top to bottom on breaking down the walls. That concrete will then be crushed and recycled, which could take until November.
The remainder of the largest structure will be taken down completely in January and as a precaution, traffic on nearby Coffee Road and Rosedale Highway will be halted for about 15 minutes for an early morning demolition.
"It's about safety," PG&E spokeswoman Katie Allen said. "We don't want people to cause problems on the road if they see a building being demolished in the distance."
Safety has been an issue: A contractor's employee fell to his death in June at the site when a falling beam struck the aerial basket in which he was working.
Cal-OSHA spokesman Peter Melton said the incident is still under investigation.
"We have six months to do an investigation, so it's going to be awhile," he said.
Katie Allen said while there have been no specific changes to safety regulations, everyone is aware of their surroundings.
"We continue to work with the contractor and maintain the highest safety standards," she said.
The entire project, which cost about $6 million, should be done by spring 2013.
"This time next year, when you drive by here, there will be nothing but tumbleweeds and it will be all flat," Tom Allen said.
PG&E will also look at environmental impacts on the 150-acre lot before ultimately selling it. Thirty acres of the 150 will remain part of a substation.
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